Academics Win MacArthur 'Genius' Fellowships

Academics are among those who learned Thursday that they are winners of the MacArthur Fellowships, widely known as the "genius" grants of the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation. Each will receive $625,000 -- with no strings attached -- over five years. The academic winners are:

• William J. Barber II, a distinguished visiting professor at Union Theological Seminary.
• Clifford Brangwynne, associate professor of chemical and biological engineering at Princeton University.
• Natalie Diaz, associate professor of English at Arizona State University.
• Livia S. Eberlin, assistant professor of chemistry at the University of Texas at Austin.
• Deborah Estrin, a professor of computer science and associate dean of Cornell Tech of Cornell University.
• Amy Finkelstein, the John and Jennie S. MacDonald Professor of Economics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Gregg Gonsalves, assistant professor of epidemiology of microbial diseases at Yale University.
• Vijay Gupta, a faculty member of the Longy School of Music of the Bard College master of arts in teaching program and the Colburn School.
• John Keene, professor and chair of African American and African studies and a professor of English at Rutgers University-Newark.
• Okwui Okpokwasili, a Hodder Fellow at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Art.
• Kristina Olson, associate professor of psychology at the University of Washington.
• Lisa Parks, a professor of comparative media studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
• Rebecca Sandefur, associate professor of sociology and law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
• Allan Sly, professor of mathematics at Princeton University.
• Sarah Stewart, a professor of earth and planetary sciences at the University of California, Davis.
• Doris Tsao, professor of biology at the California Institute of Technology.